Minister Sets Tokyo 2020 Olympics Targets

The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, has declared that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games will be devoid of the usual jamboree as only sports and athletes with medal prospects will represent the country.

He made this known yesterday when he met with the Ministerial Advisory Committee and presidents of sports federations that will represent Nigeria at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The meeting which was held at the Media Centre of the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja, was aimed at preventing a repeat of the last two Olympics where Nigeria won only a bronze medal in men’s Football.

The minister stressed the need for the Ministry and the Federations to maintain a common ground for Nigerian athletes to make the country proud at the Olympics.

“It is important we meet and have a time frame. We need to be on the same page to prepare for the Olympics. We are going to create a feedback system beyond this meeting and we are going to have a similar meeting down the road to ensure the smooth running of our Olympics participation.

“This is not going to be a jamboree where we participate for the sake of it. We are going to present only athletes with the best prospects of winning medals. We have engaged a scientific approach to monitoring the athletes. We would not compromise standard,” Dare asserted.

The Minister took briefs from the Secretary of the Ministerial Advisory Committee, the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), and the Paralympic Committee of Nigeria.

Lists of athletes that have qualified and those yet to qualify were made known, as well as the mandatory sports to be entered.

Budgetary allocation, funding and accreditation processes were also discussed.

At the last Olympics in Rio 2016, Nigeria won only one bronze medal in men’s football.